Ice Storm Slams South with Power Outages, Travel Nightmare in Texas: 'Driving Extremely Dangerous'

Icy winter weather has led to treacherous road conditions in several states across the country with Texas taking the brunt of the storm. 

Tuesday hundreds of accidents littered the highways in parts of the Lone Star state as the storm wreaked havoc on the roads.

"Because of icing, many roads in Texas will remain very dangerous for the next 24 to 48 hours," Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Tuesday.

Multiple collisions were reported in Austin and Dallas, with at least one fatality.  

A sheriff's deputy was hospitalized after being hit when he stopped to help the driver of an 18-wheeler that went off an icy highway.

Abbott added, "Driving conditions are extremely dangerous right now in many parts of the state of Texas.  Approximately 1,600 roads are impacted. TexDOT has used more than 1.3 billion gallons of brine and other material to treat the roadways."
 
At least 7,000 power outages have been reported across the state and nearly 2,000 flights have been cancelled across the country.

The storm began Monday across Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Tennessee.  

"Look at that. That is straight up just ice. That is not even snow. Look at the parking lot. You can't even see the yellow lines," said Chrissy Hood-Quick of Oklahoma.

Freezing rain and hazardous conditions forced the closure of some schools in Memphis, TN.

And in Arkansas the governor declared a state of emergency because of the ice storm. The National Guard has been deployed to help fight the dangerous travel conditions.

Officials say Arkansas' Interstate 40 is iced over and extremely hazardous with more than a dozen crashes reported. 

Forecasters say further rounds of cold, rainy weather will spread the conditions to the east over the next couple of days.